BJP MLA from Mudigere constituency M.P. Kumaraswamy on Thursday resigned from the party after he was denied ticket to contest the May 10 Karnataka Assembly polls.
The three-time MLA submitted his resignation from the primary membership of the BJP to party State unit president Nalin Kumar Kateel, joining the list of BJP leaders who quit the party ahead of the polls.
Kumaraswamy said that he will decide on his next move after discussing with his supporters and people of his constituency.
The BJP released its second list of candidates for the upcoming polls on Wednesday. Kumaraswamy’s name did not figure in the list of candidates for the polls.
The new list denied tickets to some sitting MLAs creating discontent among them and prompting several senior leaders to tender their resignation to the party.
Kumaraswamy hit out at BJP national general secretary C.T. Ravi for not getting the ticket to contest from Mudigere. He cited personal rivalry between him and Ravi as the reason for him missing the ticket.
“C.T. Ravi is in a powerful position. He is now the national general secretary of the BJP. For personal reasons, he has opposed me,” M.P. Kumaraswamy told the reporters.
“If I was in his position and he was in mine, I would have done the same thing," he said and warned the BJP that Ravi will decimate the party.
Speculations are rife that the leader from the SC community may join JD(S) or contest as an independent.
In the BJP's second list of 23 candidates announced last night, the party has named Deepak Doddaiah as a candidate from Mudigere in place of Kumaraswamy.
For several months, Mr. Kumaraswamy had been facing dissidence within the party in Chikkamagaluru district.
During the BJP’s Vijay Sankalpa Yatra on March 16, a group of people staged a protest in Mudigere opposing the ticket for Kumaraswamy. The protest forced former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to return from Mudigere without addressing the rally.
Kumaraswamy had alleged that a few leaders within the party had been opposing him as he is a Dalit.